Some numbers for Mr. Skelos

Our opinion: A poll shows heavy support for a higher statewide minimum wage. The Republicans in the state Senate might think about that.

Say, how about those poll results, Dean Skelos? No, not the ones showing how the state Senate that you lead is viewed much more favorably by New Yorkers than it was a year ago. Not yet, anyway.

First, let’s talk about these numbers: $7.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour, and 78 percent to 17 percent.

That’s the increase in the state’s minimum wage supported by the state Assembly, and the overwhelming sentiment of New Yorkers supporting the increase, according to a poll released Monday by the Siena Research Institute.

This is data that’s hard to spin. That’s a more than 4-to-1 majority in favor of what would be the first such raise in almost a decade. It is an overwhelming consensus from one end of the state to the other, from the enclaves of wealth in Mr. Skelos’ home district in Nassau County to the more commonly impoverished regions like the Adirondacks.

It probably won’t surprise Mr. Skelos, who stands steadfastly in the way of the increase, that almost 90 percent of Democrats are in favor of a pay raise that will help the working poor at least begin to catch up with years of inflation.

What’s more intriguing is that about 75 percent of independents feel the same way, and that 58 percent of Republicans part company with their party’s legislative leader.

With that in mind, then, another number for Mr. Skelos: two. That’s the tiny majority of seats that the GOP holds in the Senate.

Don’t you suppose, Mr. Skelos, that opposing a higher minimum wage might cost the Republicans a seat or two in this year’s elections? Pardon us for thinking that politics and popular sentiment have a way of influencing public policy. But here, in any case, is the Senate’s chance to do what’s both popular and right.

More poll numbers, then, about the Senate itself: The Siena poll found that 46 percent of New Yorkers have a favorable view of the Senate, compared with 43 percent who have a negative one. That’s a huge improvement from last year — about as big as, oh, the difference between being one of the working poor and part of what’s left of the middle class. Imagine how popular a Senate that thought better of standing in the way of something as appealing as a higher minimum wage might be.

And, finally, one more set of numbers: zero and 7,500. The first number is how many jobs were lost when the minimum wage was last increased, in 2004, and how many jobs economists predict will be created if it’s raised again.

Now Mr. Skelos has seen those numbers, which contradict his expressed views on the topic. So let’s hear him cite some poll numbers of his own. He says business owners are universally opposed to a higher minimum wage. Unanimity is so hard to achieve. By how big a margin, Mr. Skelos?

Maybe there’s a bit more support there for what just might be inevitable than you realize. Maybe business owners know they can afford the next increase, and know that it’s the right thing to do. This is at least worth a vote in the Senate, just as it was in the Assembly.

Oh, just one more number: One. It’s one person who is standing in the way of a vote in the Senate. Up to the job, Mr. Skelos?

3 Responses

Great!! Let’s raise the minimum wage!!! Of course that means those locally grown fruits and vegetables will no cost more than those grown out of state. And the cost of food at McDonald’s (where the poor eat) will also go up. The better question to ask: Who makes Minimum Wage? My son works at WalMart and makes $11 per hour. People, get your heads out of the sand. Minimum wage is way of paying someone more than they are really worth. It’s like giving people who get a 0 on a test a 50. DUMB!!!

Remember Popular Opinion is not always right. Just look at those who believed the Earth was flat, those who thought the earth was at the center of the universe, and the Anthropogenic Global Warming crowd.